Man Accused in St. Paul Croatian FCU Fraud Denied Bail

The man indicted for bank fraud and money laundering in connection with the collapse of St. Paul Croatian FCU has been denied bail in federal court.

A request by Koljo Nikolovski was denied because he was a flight risk, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Cleveland.

Last week, a Cleveland grand jury indicted Nikolovski on two counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering and alleged that he fraudulently received bank loans totaling $2.5 million by "falsely listing the names of other persons as the applicants and intended recipients of these loans.'' Nikolovski was ineligible to receive loans because he had already defaulted on more than $ 1 million in loans he had received.

The money laundering transaction stems from his wiring $2.3 million loan proceeds from his account at a Cleveland area bank to a bank in Skopje, Macedonia. He has residences in the Cleveland suburb of Eastlake and Skopje.

The affidavit issued at the time of the indictment said that the U.S. Attorney's office "learned through multiple interview with the [former] chief executive officer [Anthony Raquez] that due to lack of creditworthiness by the borrowers, bribes and/or kickbacks were made to the chief executive officer in order to influence him to issue fraudulent loans.''

The NCUA liquidated St. Paul FCU last May 1, a week after placing it into conservatorship. The estimated cost to the NCUSIF was $170 million.